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SpongeBob SquarePants
SpongeBob SquarePants, often referred to as just SpongeBob, is an animated television series created by marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg. The series premiered after the Kids' Choice Awards on May 1, 1999. It officially began airing on July 17 of the same year with the second episode "Bubblestand/Ripped Pants". The main character is an accident-prone sea sponge, SpongeBob SquarePants, who lives in an underwater pineapple with his pet snail Gary. His neighbors are his best friend, Patrick Star, and a sour octopus named Squidward. SpongeBob works for a cheapskate crab named Mr. Krabs, who lives in an anchor with his whale daughter Pearl. SpongeBob is enrolled in a boat-driving school run by Mrs. Puff, a pufferfish, and often spends time with a thrill-seeking squirrel from land named Sandy. The villains of the show are Plankton and Karen, the owners of a failing restaurant called the Chum Bucket. Most episodes take place in the town of Bikini Bottom or on the surrounding sea floor. The cartoon is designed to appeal to older viewers as much as to children. This has a lot to do with the way underwater life and situations are represented, absurdly, as though they are almost equivalent to normal terrestrial lifestyles. Instead of cars, the residents of Bikini Bottom drive boats—with wheels of course. Once, while on a camping trip, Patrick questions how they could have a camp fire on the lagoon bottom—the fire is immediately extinguished with a sizzle. A flurry of bubbles accompany many actions, just to remind the viewer everything is underwater. SpongeBob lives in a pineapple, while his neighbor Squidward lives in an Easter Island head and Patrick lives under a rock. The suggestion is that the characters' dwellings have fallen from a tropical island to become underwater habitats. SpongeBob's house pet is a snail named Gary, who only meows like a cat, though characters have shown signs of being able to understand him. As such, worms are the undersea equivalent of dogs. Scallops are the equivalent of birds, as they "fly" and are kept in cages. Jellyfish are the equivalent of bees as they buzz and sting, and are used for their jelly, but are collected or appreciated like butterflies. The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, the first theatrical film based on the series, was released on November 19, 2004. According to Square Roots, the movie was also the reason for the long hiatus between season three's "Pranks a Lot" and season four's "Fear of a Krabby Patty". A second movie, titled The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, was released on February 6, 2015. History / Production Theme Song The theme song, a sea shanty-style tune is sung by Pat Pinney and can also be found on the soundtrack, SpongeBob SquarePants: Original Theme Highlights. A cover of the song by superstar Avril Lavigne can be found on [[The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (soundtrack)|the soundtrack for The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie]]. There was also a choral version done for the early episodes. For several special episodes, the theme song was altered to fit the plot of the episode, such as in "Christmas Who?" and "What Ever Happened to SpongeBob?" Characters *'SpongeBob SquarePants'- A square sea sponge who lives in a pineapple under the sea. He works at the Krusty Krab along with his boring neighbor Squidward. He has a best friend named Patrick Star. *'Patrick Star' - A cheerful, naive and unintelligent starfish who is SpongeBob's best friend. He lives under a rock to the right of Squidward's house. He is unemployed but has held various temporary jobs throughout the series. *'Squidward Tentacles' - An arrogant octopus who lives in an Easter Island head between SpongeBob and Patrick's houses. Although loved by the other characters, Squidward is pessimistic and antisocial. He loathes his job as the cashier at the Krusty Krab. *'Sandy Cheeks' - Another friend of SpongeBob's, Sandy is an athletic squirrel from Texas. She wears an astronaut suit and lives in an air-filled "Treedome" so that she can survive Bikini Bottom's ocean environment. She works as a scientist and an inventor. *'Eugene H. Krabs' - The cheapskate, miserly owner of the Krusty Krab. Commonly known as Mr. Krabs, he is SpongeBob and Squidward's boss. He lives in an anchor with his daughter Pearl, who is a whale. *'Sheldon J. Plankton' - A small green copepod who runs the failing Chum Bucket restaurant along with his sentient computer Karen. His goal is to steal the secret Krabby Patty formula and run Mr. Krabs out of business. He is a skilled inventor and often creates machines to assist him in his plots. *'Karen Plankton' - A waterproof supercomputer who lives in the Chum Bucket laboratory. She acts as Plankton's sidekick and wife, providing him with evil plans to steal the recipe for Krabby Patties. Plankton always takes the credit for Karen's ideas and ends up messing them up. *'Mrs. Puff' - SpongeBob's teacher at boating school. She is a pufferfish who blows up like an airbag whenever she is scared or crashes. SpongeBob is her longest-standing student. She is Mr. Krabs' love interest and girlfriend. *'Pearl Krabs' - A whale who lives in a hollow anchor with her father, Mr. Krabs. When she grows up, her father wants her to continue the family business by inheriting the Krusty Krab and becoming its owner. She is currently a teenager who spends most of her time and money at the mall. *'Gary' - SpongeBob's pet snail who meows like a cat, as do the other snails on the show. He is very intelligent, as revealed in the episode "Your Shoe's Untied". Gary actually wears shoes, and taught SpongeBob how to tie his shoes. Gary also has many other items stored in his shell. Episodes Seasons Movies Home video releases Cast *'Tom Kenny': SpongeBob SquarePants, Gary the Snail, Patchy the Pirate, French Narrator *'Bill Fagerbakke': Patrick Star *'Rodger Bumpass': Squidward Tentacles *'Clancy Brown': Eugene H. Krabs *'Doug Lawrence': Sheldon J. Plankton, Potty the Parrot (since 2017), Larry the Lobster *'Jill Talley': Karen Plankton *'Carolyn Lawrence': Sandy Cheeks *'Mary Jo Catlett': Mrs. Puff *'Lori Alan': Pearl Krabs *'Stephen Hillenburg': Potty the Parrot (2000-2004) *'Paul Tibbitt': Potty the Parrot (2005-2012) *'Dee Bradley Baker': Various characters, including Bubble Bass and Squilliam Fancyson *'Sirena Irwin': Various characters, including Margaret SquarePants *'Thomas F. Wilson': Various characters *'Carlos Alazraqui': Scooter *'Ernest Borgnine': Mermaid Man *'Tim Conway': Barnacle Boy *'Brian Doyle-Murray': The Flying Dutchman *'Charles Nelson Reilly': The Dirty Bubble *'Marion Ross': Grandma SquarePants Movie cast *'Scarlett Johansson': Princess Mindy *'Jeffrey Tambor': King Neptune *'Alec Baldwin': Dennis *'Antonio Banderas': Burger-Beard the Pirate *'Matt Berry': Bubbles Crew *Stephen Hillenburg: Creator/Executive Producer (1999-2004, 2015-2018) *Derek Drymon: Creative Director/Writer/Story Editor/Executive Producer(1999-2004) *Sherm Cohen: Art Director/Writer/Executive Prouducer (2005-2006) *Paul Tibbitt: Writer/Storyboard Director/Backing Voice Actor/Executive Producer, Showrunner (1999-2004; 2005-2017) *Merriwether Williams: Story Editor/Writer *Doug Lawrence (Mr. Lawrence): Writer/Story Editor *Chuck Klein: Writer/Storyboard Artist & Director *Jay Lender: Writer/Storyboard Artist & Director *Sam Henderson: Writer/Storyboard Director *Kaz: Writer/Storyboard Artist *Aaron Springer: Writer/Storyboard Artist & Director *C.H. Greenblatt: Writer/Storyboard Artist & Director *Bradley Carow: Music *David Wigforss: Special Effects (CG visual effects animator) *Caleb Muerer: Art Director *Andy Rheingold: Executive in Charge of Production *Tim Hill: Writer *Eric Wiese: Writer/Storyboard Artist *Mark O'Hare: Writer/Storyboard Artist & Director *Steven Fonti: Writer/Storyboard Director (1999) *Chris Mitchell: Writer/Storyboard Artist (1999) *Mike Bell: Writer/Storyboard Director (2005-) *Vincent Waller: Writer/Storyboard Artist & Director/Technicial Director (2005-) *Alan Smart: Animation Director *Tom Yasumi: Animation Director *Andrew Overtoom: Animation Director *Sean Dempsey: Animation Director Broadcast history References External links *Encyclopedia SpongeBobia *SpongeBob SquarePants on Wikipedia de:SpongeBob Schwammkopf (Serie) nl:SpongeBob SquarePants pl:Spongebob Kanciastoporty Category:Shows Category:SpongeBob SquarePants Category:Nicktoons Category:Comedy Category:Current shows Category:1990s premieres Category:Kids' Choice Awards winners